[Federal Register: October 13, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 197)]
[Notices]
[Page 62850-62851]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13oc10-81]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R1-ES-2010-N130; 10120-1112-0000-F2]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Permit; Habitat
Conservation Plan for Operation and Maintenance of Existing and Limited
Future Facilities associated With the Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative
on Kaua`i, Hawai`i
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft habitat conservation plan,
draft implementing agreement, draft environmental assessment, and a
permit application; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) (Applicant) has
submitted an application to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service) for an incidental take permit (permit) under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The Applicant is requesting a
permit to authorize incidental take of the federally endangered
Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis), the federally threatened
Newell's (Townsends) shearwater (Puffinus auricularis newelli), and the
band-rumped storm-petrel (Oceanodroma castro), a Federal candidate
species that could become listed during the term of the permit
(collectively, these three species are hereafter referred to as the
``Covered Species''). The permit application includes a draft Habitat
Conservation Plan (HCP) that describes the Applicant's actions and the
measures the Applicant will implement to minimize, mitigate, and
monitor incidental take of the Covered Species, and a draft
Implementing Agreement (IA). The Service also announces the
availability of a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) that has been
prepared to evaluate the permit application in accordance with the
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We are
making the permit application package and draft EA available for public
review and comment.
DATES: All comments from interested parties must be received on or
before November 29, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Please address written comments to Loyal Mehrhoff, Project
Leader, Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 3-122,
Honolulu, HI 96850. You may also send comments by facsimile to (808)
792-9580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill Standley, Fish and Wildlife
Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see ADDRESSES above),
telephone (808) 792-9400.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Availability of Documents
You may request copies of the permit application, which includes
the draft HCP, draft IA, and EA, by contacting the Service's Pacific
Islands Fish and Wildlife Office (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
above). These documents are also available electronically for review on
the Service's Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office Web site at
http://www.fws.gov/pacificislands. Comments and materials we receive,
as well as supporting documentation we used in preparing the NEPA
document, will become part of the public record and will be available
for public inspection, by appointment, during regular business hours.
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware
that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
We specifically request information from the public on whether the
application meets the statutory and regulatory requirements for issuing
a permit, and identification of any impacts on the human environment
that should have been analyzed in the draft EA. We are also soliciting
information regarding the adequacy of the HCP to minimize, mitigate,
and monitor the proposed incidental take of the Covered Species and to
provide for adaptive management, as evaluated against our permit
issuance criteria found in section 10(a) of the ESA, 16 U.S.C. 1539(a),
and 50 CFR 13.21, 17.22, and 17.32. In compliance with section 10(c) of
the ESA, we are making the permit application package available for
public review and comment for 45 days (see DATES section above).
Background
Section 9 of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and Federal
regulations prohibit the take of fish and wildlife species listed as
endangered or threatened. The term ``take'' means to harass, harm,
pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to
attempt to engage in any such conduct (16 U.S.C. 1538). However, under
section 10(a) of the ESA, we may issue permits to authorize incidental
take of listed fish and wildlife species. Incidental take is defined as
take that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an
otherwise lawful activity. Regulations governing incidental take
permits for threatened and endangered species are found at 50 CFR 17.32
and 17.22. If issued, the permittee would receive assurances under the
Service's ``No Surprises'' regulations at 50 CFR 17.32(b)(5) and 50 CFR
17.22(b)(5).
KIUC is a utility cooperative that generates and distributes
electricity to the entire island of Kaua`i, Hawai`i. KIUC developed a
draft HCP that addresses incidental take of the three Covered Species
caused by the operation and maintenance of KIUC's existing and
anticipated facilities over a period of up to 5 years.
The three Covered Species are seabirds that breed on Kaua`i and
feed in the open ocean. Each of the Covered Species spends a large part
of the year at sea. Adults generally return to their colonial nesting
grounds in the interior mountains of Kaua`i beginning in March and
April, and depart beginning in September. Fledglings (i.e., young birds
learning how to fly) travel from the nesting colony to the sea in the
fall. Both adults and fledglings are known to
[[Page 62851]]
collide with tall buildings, towers, power lines, and other structures
while flying at night between their nesting colonies and at-sea
foraging areas. These birds, and particularly fledglings, are also
attracted to bright lights. Disoriented birds are commonly observed
circling repeatedly around exterior light sources until they fall to
the ground or collide with structures.
In an effort to address some of the immediate impacts to the
Covered Species by KIUC's existing facilities, the Service and KIUC
entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in November 2002, and
again in January 2005. Under the MOAs, KIUC agreed to implement interim
conservation measures (ICMs) to reduce the impacts of its facilities on
the Covered Species while long-term conservation actions are being
developed in a HCP. The ICMs include shielding streetlights on KIUC
power poles to minimize disorientation of seabirds caused by lights and
funding the State's ``Save Our Shearwaters'' (SOS) program to rescue
downed fledglings. The 2005 MOU expired in June 2006.
Proposed Plan
The draft HCP covers KIUC activities within all areas on Kaua`i
where its facilities (e.g., generating stations, power lines, utility
poles, lights) are located. These activities include the continuing
operation, maintenance, and repair of all existing facilities, and the
construction, operation, maintenance, and repair of certain new
facilities, during the term of the incidental take permit. The draft
HCP describes the impacts of take incidental to those activities on the
Covered Species, and proposes certain measures to minimize and mitigate
the impacts of such take on each of the Covered Species. The Applicant
has also applied for a State of Hawaii incidental take license under
Hawaii state law.
KIUC is proposing mitigation measures that include: (1) Fully
funding implementation of the SOS Program; (2) funding Covered Species
colony management and predator control in the Limahuli Valley; (3)
funding Covered Species colony management and predator control in the
Hono o Na Pali Natural Area Reserve; (4) updating estimates of at-sea
Covered Species populations; (5) funding a 2-year auditory survey to
locate additional Covered Species breeding colonies; (6) funding
development and implementation of an under-line monitoring program
aimed at better understanding the amount of take of Covered Species
caused by overhead utility structures; and (7) funding Covered Species
colony management and predator control in the Wainiha Valley or other
suitable location during the fourth and fifth year of the permit. The
work that KIUC proposes to carry out is intended to enhance our
knowledge of the Covered Species' biology and distribution and improve
these species' chances of reproductive success to offset the impacts of
take caused by KIUC activities. The HCP also includes adaptive
management provisions to allow for modifications to the mitigation and
monitoring measures as knowledge is gained during their implementation.
We invite comments and suggestions from all interested parties and
request that comments be as specific as possible. In particular, we
request information and comments regarding the following issues:
(1) The direct, indirect, and cumulative effects that
implementation of any reasonable alternatives could have on endangered
and threatened species;
(2) Other reasonable alternatives consistent with the purpose of
the proposed HCP as described above, and their associated effects;
(3) Measures that would minimize and mitigate potentially adverse
effects of the proposed action;
(4) Adaptive management or monitoring provisions that may be
incorporated into the alternatives, and their benefits to listed
species;
(5) Other plans or projects that might be relevant to this action;
(6) The proposed term of the Incidental Take Permit and whether the
proposed conservation program would sufficiently minimize and mitigate
the incidental take that would be expected to occur over 5 years; and
(7) Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of
the proposed action on the human environment.
The draft EA considers the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects
of the proposed action of permit issuance, including the measures that
will be implemented to minimize and mitigate such impacts. The EA
contains an analysis of three alternatives: (1) No Action (no permit
issuance and the status quo in terms of KIUC's actions with respect to
incidental take of Covered Species); (2) issuance of an incidental take
permit to KIUC on the basis of its proposed HCP; and (3) issuance of a
3-year permit based on implementation of the proposed HCP.
This notice is provided pursuant to section 10(c) of the ESA and
NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6). The public process for the proposed
Federal action will be completed after the public comment period, at
which time we will evaluate the permit application, the HCP and
associated documents (including the EA), and comments submitted thereon
to determine whether or not the proposed action meets the requirements
of section 10(a) of the ESA and has been adequately evaluated under
NEPA.
Dated: September 17, 2010.
Theresa E. Rabot,
Acting Deputy Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 2010-25707 Filed 10-12-10; 8:45 am]
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